To Night Owl From Dogfish

An epistolary novel is a book-length work of fiction that consists of letters, journal entries, emails, voicemails, and other written or recorded forms of communication. As technology has produced more forms of writing (such as tweets, text messages, and the like), these have been incorporated into epistolary novels. Texts are typically marked or visually formatted so the reader can tell who wrote it, what it is, and who the intended audience is.

Epistolary novels often have multiple narrators who are all characters in the novel, offering a variety of perspectives on the story’s events and revealing aspects of their own personalities via what they say (and how they say it). “Outside” sources like newspaper articles sometimes contextualize or fill in the gaps of this first-person narration. There is also typically an implied reader for each text. For example, a letter may be addressed from one character to her parents, an assignment may be written by a student for a teacher, or a diary entry may be meant for the writer’s eyes only. The way characters write to one another can illuminate not only who they are as individuals but in relation to one another: A teenage character may share certain details with her friends but not her parents. Bett, for example, is more willing to discuss her first period with Avery than with Marlow—partly because Marlow is her father and a man, but also because she is already frustrated with him by that point in the novel.

In English-language literature, the epistolary form first arose in the 17th century and gained popularity in the 1700s. Writers have adapted it to a variety of genres, including horror, romance, mystery, and science fiction. Famous epistolary novels include Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897), The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (1859), Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1959), Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (1964), Carrie by Stephen King (1974), The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982), The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999), and The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (1999). Epistolary novels especially suit plots that involve multiple characters working together to solve some sort of mystery. Many contemporary middle-grade and young-adult novels also use the epistolary form: Teenagers often keep diaries or journals, write assignments for school, and keep in touch with friends and family using written forms such as text messages and emails.